X-Com:Operations
by dhofm4
Summary: My attempt at a Novelisation of X-Com Enemy Unknown. Revision of earlier chapters now complete.
1. Operation Bleak Thunder

Authors Note: This is my first fan fiction so be nice and gentle with any reviews till I've gotten the hang of writing please. I may or may not turn this into a series of one-shots not sure yet depends on reviews and inspiration. I'm currently revising everything for this story so here the revised chapter one.

The mist swirled around the operatives boots as they moved rapidly from cover to cover. There were six of them, each identified by the different emblems on the back of their armour. Each emblem was a flag of a different nation and, only way to differentiate the identical jet black body armour that covered the operatives from the neck down. The lead operative, a Greek named Thanos, held up his hand signalling for a stop.

"All right this is a crash not a landing so expect little to no resistance" he stated quietly over his radio.

The other five operatives nodded in response. As Thanos rose up to continue their advance a bright green ball of energy shot out of the dark and impacted on his chest. There was a short moment of silence has no one moved, then he fell silently. The other operatives opened fire, spraying bullets into the darkened forest. More balls of green energy flew back at the operatives. The British operative, Tiena, spun around before falling, a round connecting with her left shoulder. She howled in pain, clutching at the stump that used to be her shoulder. The bolt had blown her arm clean off and it sat in the dirt a few feet away. The German operative, a young man named Hans Volker, ignored her screaming and the green orbs tracking across his vision, instead focusing on the trajectory of the bolts, zeroing in on the source and firing pin point bursts from his assault rifle. The Chinese operative, Hyung, fell the right side of his face nothing but a smouldering blackened mess. A short few more moments of gunfire and then silence descended upon the woods.

Volker counted quietly "Eins, Zwei, Drei, vier" When nothing jumped out at him from the dark he activated his radio and continued speaking, this time in english "Delta 2 to central, Delta 1 and Delta 5 are KIA and Delta 6 needs immediate medevac, acknowledge central"

There was a slight pause before a voice responded "Acknowledged Delta 2 medevac en route hold position until medics arrive" Volker began directing the remaining team members into a rough perimeter with swift hand signals. He placed the Irish operative, Shaun MacDonald, to the right of the injured British operative and the American, Jonas, to the left. He moved ahead to where their opponents had been shooting from. He soon came upon where their opponents small crumpled bodies lay. There was five of them. All of them were the small grey-skinned Sectiod aliens.

_'Five of theirs for three of ours, hardly fair'_ he thought bitterly. Within minutes the medics had arrived and recovered the injured Brit. The remaining operatives continued onward towards the crash-site. They soon found themselves staring down at the crashed UFO, left still largely intact despite the interceptor's missile that blew it out of the sky and the high speed crash.

"Christ thats one tough bastard" Jonas muttered. Standing in a small cluster in front of the UFO's main entrance were four more of the Sectoids. He quickly made the signal for grenades and the other two operatives responded in the affirmative. Within seconds three frag grenades landed in amongst the diminutive aliens and obliterated all of them.

"Delta 4 hold here keep the outside secure, Delta 3 with me" Volker ordered calmly. They both nodded. Shaun followed him down to the alien craft and they stacked up, one of them on either side of the shimmering alien door. With a gesture from Volker, Shaun tapped his hand against the portal, causing it to disappear rapidly. Simultaneously Volker swept around the door frame and scanned the interior. They were in a narrow corridor. Another signal and Shaun moved into the hallway advancing to the next doorway. They repeated the same process as before at the next door, however when Volker went to enter the room he was knocked back has three of the semi-robotic floaters sped past on their jet packs.

"4 floaters coming out! Hit 'em!" He shouted has he rose to his feet and sprinted after them, Irish hot on his heels.

Jonas reacted instantly and opened fire his light machine gun ripping the first two to pieces. The third one however slipped past his fire and flew upwards in an arc over his position. He traced it with his weapon putting out a constant stream of lead, hoping to nail the flying monstrosity. Just has it reached the apex of it's arc and ceased its movements his LMG clacked dry. He cursed loudly. It fired three shots and ended the Americans life. The floater was blown out of the sky a second later by the two remaining operatives has they exited the UFO. With a sigh Volker led Shaun back into the UFO and into the final room. The instant they entered the room a green bolt of energy flew at them and winged Irish. He fell to the ground with a cry of pain. Volker raised his rifle and fired a single burst into the head of the final alien. The outsider alien disintegrated into nothing has it fell towards the ground. Volker sighed heavily, it didn't look like there was anymore aliens in the UFO or the surrounding area.

"This is Delta 2 target secure, Delta 4 is KIA, Delta 3 has light injuries, all hostiles neutralised" He reported calmly.

"Affirmative Delta, clean up crew are en route, good work out there" The response was almost instantaneous. Volker gave a tired smile and helped Shaun up before the duo began to return to the dropship.

"Doesn't feel like a good job" Shaun muttered. Volker simply nodded in agreement.


	2. Interlude 1: A moment of Peace

**A/N: **Here's the first of the bridging chapters that I've decided to write. Read and Review please.

Volker smiled has he stepped off of the Skyranger dropship into the underground base that served has X-Com's headquarters. Even the experienced German operative was surprised by what he saw, alongside the regular assortment of medical teams and ground crews stood none other than Colonel Cecily Fairchild, a former British army officer and X-Com's current high commander. She waved Volker over as Shaun and Tiena left with the medical team. Volker saluted the colonel has he stepped up to her.

She smiled pleasantly "Lieutenant Volker, I'm glad you and your teammates made it back safe" the two shook hands has she said this, Volker was still stunned that this woman, only half his size and with not even a fraction of his or most other soldiers muscular strength had been directing X-Com so effectively.

"Not all of us made it back Ma'am, and even then Tiena won't be fighting with us anymore" It didn't take a doctor to work out that Tiena's injury was impossible to recover from. Without her arm she would be a liability on the battlefield, so the only option left was early retirement.

"I heard, I'm sorry about that" She looked genuinely sad about the fallen soldiers, this was a first for Volker most officers cared more about getting the job done then keeping their men alive. Volker just gave a slight shrug of his shoulders and waited for her to continue, even if she felt bad about the losses the high commander of X-Com had bigger things to do than come congratulate every soldier that made it back to base alive.

"Delta team needs a new captain now, and I've looked over all of the available candidates and your file looks the most impressive. So Captain Volker think you can handle the job" She said the last part with a small smile.

Volker hesitated before he nodded "Yes ma'am, it would be an honour" Cecily smiled at this and nodded.

"I'll get the paperwork done before your next operation then, take care of yourself Captain" She smiled at him again before turning and striding out of the hanger. Volker turned and went towards the medbay, he hat let the others know about his soon to be promotion and make sure they were alright.

When he arrived at the medbay Shaun was sitting on the edge of one of the beds lining the room while Tiena lay on the bed opposite him her shoulder wrapped in a bandage. "Hey how are we holding up over here?" Volker asked with a weak grin.

"Feel like I got hit with truck" Shaun muttered.

Tiena laughed "Thats cuz the doc won't give you any pain killers"

"Don't remind me" Shaun grumbled. Volker nodded and moved to Tiena's bedside.

"Well when your under my command try not to get shot so much" Volker teased the other operative.

"Yeah, yeah wait your command? They're putting you in charge of Delta are they" Shaun smiled "Damn, you lucky bastard… Sir" He said grinning the entire time. Volker just nodded before he turned to Tiena.

"Tiena, what are your plans now that this has happened?" Shaun asked the young Brit.

"No idea my lease for my flat ran out a couple days ago, why?"

"If you want you I've got a place in London you can use till you find your own place"

"Aww going soft on us, Shaun" Volker said grinning widely.

Shaun shrugged before he reached out, holding Tiena's hand "We look after our own in so you can stay there and feed my damn cat while your at it" Volker grinned at this last part. Tiena laughed and Shaun smiled warmly. _If only it was always like this _Volker thought smiling at the two younger operatives.


	3. Operation Frozen Ember

**A/N: **Here we are, with the revisions the stories undergoing I've decided to expand it a fair bit so there might be more chapters like this one thats appearing in between older ones.

**Disclaimer: **Nothing's mine still.

Corporal Jacob Deglan flinched has a bolt of plasma destroyed a cluster of rocks that were beside the tree he was currently seeking cover behind. He glanced around and worked out where the remaining members of his recon team were, Javik an Argentinian was crouched behind a fallen tree while Caleb, a Canadian operative, was in a small ditch five or so metres ahead of Deglan's current position. He leaned out of cover and fired a sort three round burst, nailing one of the twelve or so Sectoids that were assaulting his team, they had found them while they were investigating reports of a UFO in the area. He cursed and ducked back into cover as the aliens return fire filled the air.

"This is Recon team Romeo to Central we've encountered X-Rays, squad strength, Romeo 1 is down, we aren't equipped for this kind of combat, we need reinforcements pronto!" Deglan shouted over the sound of gunfire.

"Affirmative Romeo Echo team is inbound hold position until they arrive" Bradford ordered. Deglan cursed under his breath.

"Affirmative Central, we're holding for now" Has Deglan said this Javik fell back clutching his shoulder has a plasma bolt grazed it. _They better hurry _Deglan thought before he fired again.

Alexander Kamarov, also known has The White Bear, moved the woodlands has fast has his feet would carry him. It had taken his team just under ten minutes to deploy when Romeo called in the alert but even those few minutes could mean the death of their comrades. Kamarov sped up as he spotted the battlefield. The three remaining Romeo team members were pulling back, one being carried by another. Kamarov dropped into cover beside the British team member "Status!" He called to the soldier.

"We're in a bad way sir, Romeo 3's in no shape to keep fighting and we're all low on ammo" The Brit responded.

"Alright I need you to hold here, while I take a team around to secure the UFO and then hit these pricks from the rear, understood?"

"Not possible sir, Even if both me and Caleb stayed and fought we'd still be overwhelmed too fast"

"Thats fine I'll leave some of my team here, alright" With this the soldier nodded. Kamarov turned to his team "Echo 4 and Echo 6 stay here and keep these bastards busy, the rest of you follow me" Echo 4, a Finn named Simo and Echo 6, a Nigerian named Abadom both moved to better cover and added their fire to the Recon team members. The other three operatives followed their leader back away from the steadily growing fire fight. Once they were well clear of the battle Kamarov led them in a wide circle towards the downed UFO.

Simo had set up his sniper rifle on a fallen tree at the top of a slight rise, his legs crossed underneath him. Abadom crouched two metres to his left using another tree has cover while the two Romeo team members that were still fighting were positioned to his left. He sighted down through his scope and picked his target. Carefully lining up his shot he exhaled before firing. A direct hit, the Sectoid flew back spraying orange ichor into the sky. He turned and repeated the process. Another hit. Another kill. Slowly and methodically the sniper continued this process of aiming and firing, heedless of the plasma raining down around him. Abadom fell plasma craving out most of his chest. Simo killed his killer and after a moment of joy at his little bit of revenge, he continued his bloody work with a smile on his face.

Kamarov stood with his shoulder against the hard alloy wall of the alien UFO his team assembled around him. "Alright Chin Ho your up, breaching charges now" With a nod the Korean operative stepped forward and planted the charges on the wall while the other team members pulled back to a safe distance. With a gesture from Kamarov Chin Ho set off the charges and the operatives moved into the smokey breach as one. Kamarov immediately lashed out with the butt of his assault rifle, smashing a Sectoid in the head and knocking it out before he opened fire, nailing another one immediately. Gunfire and plasma filled the air and cut through the smokey haze has the operatives fell upon their opponents. Chin Ho went down. Dead. Kamarov avenged him with a single burst from his rifle. An Outsider alien began to form only for another Russian operative named Nikolai gun it down before it could get a single shot off. After another chaotic moment the short fire fight ended. Kamarov turned and drew his new Arc Thrower aiming it at the still unconscious Sectoid he had knocked out at the beginning of the fire fight. He pulled the trigger and watched has electricity surrounded the Sectoid for a moment before fading away.

"Echo 2 you watch the Doc's new best friend, me and Echo 3 will go help the others" Nikolai nodded and began hog tying the Sectoid. Kamarov and the final operative a Japanese man named Takamichi moved to the front entrance of the UFO and after a short trip through the woods found the fire fight. Without even needing to signal both he and Takamichi opened fire. Of the seven Sectoids in front of them four died before they could react. The other three turned and fired at the duo. Takamichi went down with a gurgling scream before Kamarov nailed another Sectoid. Then two gunshots rang out and both Sectoids fell forward, dead. Simo stepped out of cover with a grin.

"All hostiles eliminated sir" He paused and his smile disappeared "We lost Abadom" Kamarov nodded slowly. Before he activated his radio

"Central this is Echo 1 we've secured the area, rescued what was left of Romeo and we got the doc her new pet" Kamarov reported proudly.

"Uh Echo 1 did you just say that you captured one of the aliens" There was disbelief in Bradford's voice.

"That's affirmative Central, we have one of 'em" Kamarov grinned has he said this.

"Roger that clean-ups on the way Echo, very good work Captain, very good" This voice was different to Bradford's. It took Kamarov a moment to realise that it was Colonel Fairchild's voice. Kamarov responded in the affirmative and then ordered his team to regroup around the UFO to await the clean-up crew. _If all our operations were this easy we would've won already _Kamarov thought despite the recent triumph.


	4. Interlude 2: Orginization and The Boss

**A/N: **Here we are another interlude. Read Review and Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. At all.

Kamarov stepped off the skyranger. The usual ground crews were waiting for the landing along with Doctor Vahlen, the head of the science division. She stepped up to him has the captured Sectoid was taken to the containment chamber that had been constructed.

"Captain, mind telling me why the prisoner looks like someone took a club to it's face or do you need to be reminded that although they aren't human harming a prisoner is still considered a war crime" There was a quiet anger in the scientists voice as she spoke.

"Well doctor, you see, while your new friend was still trying to kill me I had no option but to hit it in the face with the butt of gun" Kamarov spoke in a formal tone.

"We designed the arc thrower to paralyse the enemy so that you don't need to do that" She spoke raising her voice slightly. Kamarov sighed, enough was enough.

"Alright Doc next time I'll just let them kill all of us and then you can take a crack at capturing them yourself, hows that sound?" Before the Vahlen could respond however the Colonel approached a satisfied grin on her face.

"Captain good work on the capture, I need to speak to you about the team rosters, so if you could come with me" It wasn't a question, the Colonel was already heading towards the hallway out of the hanger before she even finished. Kamarov followed obediently, ignoring Vahlen's 'this isn't over' glare.

Kamarov silently fumed has he stood in front of the Colonel's desk. They had no more reserves left to fill the gap in his team, and it was twelve days before the next batch of recruits were picked out from their home countries.

"Ma'am are you sure there's no way I can get my team in the field again before then?" He asked has he recked his brain for a possible solution.

"Not unless I scrap another team, which would be the same has just leaving your team out until the replacements arrive, sorry Captain but there really isn't any options here" She apologised calmly.

"What about Romeo team? Their combat ineffective too and they have field experience, give me them" Kamarov knew he was reaching with this one but getting his team back in the field has quickly has possible was his main priority. Fairchild sighed. Then she shrugged.

"If they say yes then their yours Captain, you'll still be out until Romeo 4's injuries heal but once he's active your team will be too"

Kamarov grinned and saluted "Thank you ma'am"

"Alright now if you'll excuse me I have to go speak with Delta team, their deploying within the hour and I want them to change their kit, now that you've caught us one of the Greys we don't need to lug the Docs arc throwers everywhere anymore" With that said Kamarov left the Colonels office with a satisfied grin.

Fairchild followed Kamarov but just as she was leaving her office Bradford's voice came over the PA system "Colonel Fairchild to Mission Control, I repeat Colonel Fairchild to Mission Control" She sighed and moved to mission control.

Upon entering the large room she walked over to Bradford frowning "Now what's gone wrong Bradford?"

"Council wants to speak with you, they wouldn't tell me why" Cecily nodded in understanding.

"Alright go inform Delta team that they don't need to bring any arc throwers with them while I go meet with our lovely boss"

"Yes ma'am" Before Bradford had even answered Fairchild was heading towards the communication room, specifically one that had been designed to receive Council transmissions only. She entered the dark room and sealed the door behind her, activating a complex lock that required both fingerprints and retina scans to unlock, before she turned on the monitor. It lit up revealing a man sitting in what appeared to be a large office chair. Any possible defining features were hidden by shadows, the only things really visible was the outlines of the man and his chair.

"You wanted to see me Sir" She saluted the screen.

"We have a job for X-Com Colonel. We have a contact in China that we need extracted immediately"

"Sir, I'm sorry but I need more details than that if I'm sending out my men"

"His name is Shaojie Zhang, a Triad operative. His employer has come into possession of a alien artefact. He has agreed to recover the artefact for us provided we assist in his escape. Colonel, this artefact could very well give us the advantage in this war" Has he said this The Man leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers together in front of himself. "We appreciate your assistance in this matter" And with that the communication was cut. Fairchild sighed and returned to Mission Control.

"Bradford get Alpha on the pad, we have a priority one extraction in China, the details should be coming through momentarily" Bradford nodded and began issuing orders.


	5. Operation Wild Dragon

**A/N: **And thus begins the Slingshot DLC. Read and Review if you could be so kind. Also if you want you can send in characters just know that they will prolly be red shirts.

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine.

Alpha team moved through the Chinese temple grounds, carefully stepping around small tombstones. Captain Amanda Kenson, Australian national, led the team forwards, towards the temple building itself. "Jenkins keep up damn it" Amanda whispered to the American rookie, prompting him to move closer to the rest of the team.

There on the steps she spotted the councils contact Zhang. He was a tall well built man with white cropped hair. He turned to face them and spoke "You must be my contact, anyone who makes an entrance like that can't fear reprisal" He said referring to the teams arrival in their skyranger. "You are here for the device?Well you can have it, on the condition that you take me with you" Amanda nodded. Suddenly Zhang pulled out his handgun, a sleek desert eagle, and fired right over her shoulder. The shot sent a single Sectoid flying back, orange blood spraying out. He true the gun to the ground. "I'm going to need a bigger gun" Amanda laughed. She could already tell that she was going to like Zhang.

"Alright lets get to the extraction zone, McGraw your rearguard, Jenkins with the VIP, Sato point, Elena right wing, Alkis left, move out hard and fast, shatter any resistance" The assembled operatives nodded and moved to their positions. It only took a few moments however before they ran into resistance, finding themselves under attack from all directions has aliens dropped down around them. Amanda took cover behind a large tombstone firing her assault rifle with short precise bursts, picking her targets carefully and ignoring the growing chaos. Out of the corner of her eyes she spotted Jenkins handing Zhang his sidearm before he returned to the fight. She pivoted has she heard a soft thud beside her, a Sectoid had descended right beside her. The alien looked has shocked has she felt. They both fired at the same time, her rounds were a perfect headshot, it's shots clipped her side and sent her spinning down to the ground.

"The Alpha 1's hit! Sato get your ass moving!" McGraw shouted, immediately assuming command. Sato sprinted over weaving as he moved, plasma bolts kicking up the dirt around him. He skidded into cover beside Amanda immediately checking her injury.

"Shit! I'm going to need a couple minutes!" The Japanese medic shouted. Plasma bolts sizzled through the air, causing Sato to flinch as he rifled through his medical kit.

"We don't have a couple minutes! Alright Jenkins, Alkis take the VIP and head to the skyranger! We'll cover Sato till the Captain can be moved then we'll follow. Now go!" McGraw shouted his Light Machine Gun pumping rounds out, ripping apart a trio of Sectoids that had been moving to flank the operatives. After a moment Alkis moved taking point while Zhang and Jenkins moved together, heading for the street outside the temple grounds. Sato went to work on Amanda rolling her onto her uninjured side he began cleaning the burn with a steady hand.

After roughly five minutes had passed Elena began rushing the medic "Jesus Christ Sato are you operating on her here or are you patching her up so she can be moved!" A plasma bolt passed inches above her head but the Italian woman ignored it turning and gunning down the Thin Man alien that had fired on her. The thin black-suited alien burst into a cloud of noxious gas. Sato rolled his eyes and continued his work, moving to bandage the ghastly injury. McGraw dropped into cover reloading his LMG as fast as he possibly could, rising up once it was finished he opened fire hosing down the steadily growing number of aliens.

"She's good to mo-" Sato was silenced mid shout as a bolt of plasma took off the top half of his head. Reacting instantly Elena moved to Amanda's side and slung the officers arm over her shoulder.

"I got her let's move!" She shouted half carrying half dragging her injured comrade. McGraw hesitated.

"Go I'll be right behind you!" McGraw moved slowly walking backwards his LMG spitting death straight at the advancing wave of aliens. Elena soon had Amanda out into the street where they discovered Alkis waiting for them. The Greek immediately began to provide covering fire. The duo made it half way across the street before McGraw left the temple grounds, when with a loud thump and a sudden explosion both of the female operatives were thrown flying as a taxi parked outside the temple exploded. Amanda landed roughly on her back, spotting the cause of the explosion. Another alien had landed on top of the taxi, it's weight resulting in the explosion of the vehicles engine. It was covered in a chitinous purple skin and moved on four spear-like legs with two small hands held close to it's drooling mandibles that lined its mouth. She watched has McGraw turned and fired at it, in response it screeched and charged the British operative. McGraws LMG had little effect, even the heavy weapons rounds bouncing off. Once it closed the distance however McGraws rounds began to puncture its armoured hide. The creature roared and reared up, stabbing McGraw through the shoulder and torso with it's two front legs. McGraw continued firing the point blank rounds finishing the creature off. Tragically it was too late for McGraw his wounds had already been his end. Suddenly Amanda was being lifted off the ground. It was Alkis, the Greek already had Elena's unconscious form slung over his right shoulder. He slung Amanda over his right and began to carry the two women towards the waiting skyranger. He staggered several times, his thin frame struggling with carrying the two armoured women. With a final grunt he carried them up the skyrangers ramp and dropped them both into seats.

"Pilot get us to the Asia Branch headquarters" Alkis sighed and sank into the seat beside Amanda "I am not paid enough for this shit" Amanda smiled and then passed out.


	6. Operation Lost Star

**A/N: **Whelp here's the second operation revised. Enjoy.

The six black armoured figures disembarked from the hovering dropship, rapidly spreading out. The only difference between the matt black suits of armour was a single emblem on the back, positioned at the base of the soldiers necks. Each soldier had a different emblem displaying their nationality in the form of their home countries national flag. The operatives paused as a voice crackled across their radios.

"This is Big Sky 1 to Delta team, we will be on station for thirty minutes, count 'em thirty minutes, before we are at bingo fuel and have to head back to base, with or without you Delta team" With that said the dropship rose up into the air and began going in wide circles around the target structure.

The target this time was a small gas station slash minimart in the middle of nowhere. Reports stated that aliens had landed here and were attempting to abduct the locals. Only 'attempting' because Delta team had been dispatched to stop them.

The leader, a German operative named Hans Volker, responded "Affirmative Big Sky 1 evac in thirty" he then used hand signals to direct his team into position. He sent the Belgian, Maxim and Japanese, Yuki, round to a side entrance to the gas station while the Irish, Shaun and French, Adriana, soldiers advanced into cover near the fuel bowsers. He moved with the Israeli operative, Doran into cover behind a parked car opposite the building. After a moment of silence he gave a hand signal to Shaun and Adriana to move in, they both gave the affirmative and began their advance.

However after only the first few steps, bolts of superheated plasma began flying towards them. Adriana immediately dropped flat while Shaun fell to one knee beside her. A lucky shot hit the fuel bowser and caused it to explode. The force of the explosion sent the four operatives outside of the blast zone stumbling. Adriana was lucky, lying prone on the ground she was rolled around a little but otherwise unharmed, Shaun however flew back his armour singing and smoking, he slammed into the side of a van to the left of Volker and left a notable-man shaped dent before he fell limply to the ground, dead. Both Volker and Doran responded instantly returning to their positions they began spraying shots at the darkened gas station, the armour piercing rounds easily penetrating the wall and tearing through into whatever was on the other side, while Maxim and Yuki headed to a side door leading into the gas station.

Maxim opened the door and immediately ducked into cover against the counter. He glanced over cautiously and spotted the aliens attacking his comrades. There were four of the diminutive grey Sectoids hiding below window height, they held their plasma pistols just above the window sill for a split second to fire before bringing them out of view. The others couldn't get a shot on the small aliens while they hid like this. "Shift fire right!" He shouted over the radio before he and Yuki opened fire targeting the nearest of the four aliens. Volker, Doran and Adriana responded to his direction immediately shifting their fire right they started ripping the short aliens to pieces. Soon only one remained, it turned and fired at Maxim but the shot went wide, he smiled and fired a three round burst into it's head, ending the despicable alien.

"This is Delta 1, Delta 5 get in there, you Delta 3 and Delta 6 clear that building me and Delta 4 will check on Delta 2 and then breach the minimart from it's main entrance" Volker's heavily accented english delivered the teams orders quickly and efficiently.

Within moments Adriana was up and inside the station with Maxim and Yuki. They began to search the small building until a noise drew them to a stop. The three operatives began looking around cautiously, unsure of what caused the sound. It came again. Yuki tapped Maxim and pointed up, he could see her mouth the word 'roof' through her helmets tinted visor. He nodded and tapped Adriana's shoulder using hand signs to tell her to continue searching while he and Yuki checked the roof. She gave him a thumbs up and continued sweeping the building. Maxim followed Yuki back outside the door they entered through and waited while she climbed a service ladder onto the roof.

Volker and Doran moved to either side of the minimarts glazed, glass double doors. With a gesture from Volker they opened them simultaneously and began their advance into the structure. The minimart had one central aisle with three shelves on either side that stretched from floor to roof. At the end of the central aisle was a waist high counter. The duo advanced down the central aisle cautiously, heading towards the counter. When they arrived at the counter they found Adriana slowly walking towards them from the buildings employee entrance. Upon seeing them she gave a smile of relief and strutted towards them calmly stopping just ten steps short of the counter. Volker nodded and advanced to the counter before he leaned against it in a relaxed manner. Doran for his part remained in the central aisle beside the top left of the shelves.

Maxim grinned has he glanced up at Yuki's shapely form "Don't mind the view much" he muttered under his breath. She paused at the last rung of the ladder carefully scanning the parts of the rooftop she could see, after a moment she rose up and completed her ascension. She made a 'come here' gesture before she advanced out of his view. Maxim climbed faster with much less caution than his comrade and completed his climb without pause. The roof was separated into two sections, the piece they were on was raised slightly higher than the second section and both sections had several large air condition boxes on them. He immediately sought cover behind one. No sooner was he in cover than plasma started flying towards them, accompanied by an outraged roar.

"Well, thats definitely not a Sectoid" he muttered to no one in particular. After a moments pause he shrugged his shoulders and pulled out one of his three High Explosive hand grenades and threw it in the direction of the roar while shouting "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" At the top of his lungs. The grenade detonated with a loud _CRUMP_ sound that shook the entire building. He could hear a loud crash and a pained roar. He reared out of cover and counted his opponents, two of the green heavily muscled Muton aliens fired their plasma rifles at him and Yuki. With a grin he returned their fire.

It all happened in a flash, the roof caved in, Adriana screamed, Doran ducked into the aisle out of view and Volker dove behind the counter. He rose out of cover in time to see the Muton alien that had fallen through the roof raise it's rifle and to hear Adriana mutter "Oh merde*" before three bolts of plasma made a mess out of her torso. He opened fire hitting the alien in the shoulder and back. The Muton roared and shrugged off the gunshots, swinging around to target Volker, only to have Doran pop out of the far side of the aisle behind it and put three rounds through the back of it's throat. It fell gurgling orange blood. Soon it lay still in a growing pool of it's own blood. The two operatives approached it cautiously, which was justified when with the last of it's strength it rolled onto it's back and fired it's rifle in the Volkers general direction. He ducked back rapidly. Then both operatives froze when they heard a soft beeping. Volker made it three steps towards the counter before he dove over it and into safety. Doran's nearest cover was at least eight steps away, he made four before the aliens grenade detonated spraying super heated plasma in every direction. He was caught in the centre of the blast without any protection. The effect was immediate. Doran's armour melted and the immense few milliseconds of heat were all it took too burn most of his body inside his armour. He died instantly.

Maxim grinned has he fired at the last Muton. It was already covered in gunshot wounds but continued to fight desperately. It backed up to the edge of the building before it's plasma rifle whined and failed to fire. Maxim smiled. The Muton roared and threw it's spent rifle aside before charging towards the two operatives. It only made one step before both operatives slammed it with bursts of lead. All aimed precisely at the aliens head and throat. It staggered and then fell backwards off the roof with a weak roar. Maxim grinned and walked up to the ledge, peering over at his fallen enemy, "iedereen die voor pannenkoeken**" he muttered in Dutch before switching to english to make his report "This is Delta 3 roof secure, i can't see anymore hostiles from up here Delta 1"

"Acknowledged Delta 3" Volker responded before switching radio channels and reporting to Central "Central area clear awaiting clean up crew now" There was a pause before the affirmative was given. "Delta 6 get down here and help with me gather our dead, 3 you watch for any hostiles we might've missed" The two other operatives both responded with simultaneous "Yes sirs".

"That was some good work out there team, damn good work" Volker hesitated as he said this, the words like ash in his mouth. _'So long has we still take losses like this we'll never win this war' _The bitter thoughts came to him just has they did after the last operation.

*Means 'Oh Crap' in French

**Means 'Anyone want pancakes' in Dutch


	7. Interlude 3: New Developments

**A/N: **And here comes the next interlude chapter, almost done with all the chapters I'm throwing in the middle. Read and Review.

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine.

Master Sergeant Alkis Kazan sighed has he stood in the Asia Branches communication room "It went exactly has I said commander, we met with the VIP and recovered the artefact"

The Colonel sighed "Your glossing over the details here but whatever I'm more concerned about the alien battleship over China. Is that artefact linked to it, the aliens were pretty determined to get it back. Have the engineer's over there determined what it is yet?"

"There working on it ma'am. We're expecting results within the week. As for the battleship I've volunteered whats left of Alpha team to stay here and help with any future operations against it. We're combat ineffective anyway" Alkis reported formally.

"Yes that does sound for the best, carry on Lieutenant" Fairchild closed the channel and turned to leave the communication room only to turn back around has the screen reactivated. This time The Man, spokesman of the council, sat in his signature chair.

"Colonel, the Council has some concerns about the current situation in China, what are X-Coms plan to deal with this unexpected threat"

"We are developing several promising plans right now sir, however it could be some time before we act" Fairchild was bluffing and The Man knew it as well as she did. There were no plans, X-Com had only just discovered the battleship an hour ago.

"I see, well just bear in mind failure here could very well mean the end of the X-Com project, and the end of humanity. I'm counting on you Colonel" With that the screen went dark. Fairchild sighed heavily. She turned and left the room, stepping out into Mission Control. Bradford looked up as she entered the room.

"Delta's back ma'am" The look on his face said it all. The mission had gone poorly.

"How many did we lose?"

"Three" Fairchild nodded. That was far from the worst result possible but it wasn't the good news she had been hoping for. "Volker and his team are resting but with the new batch of recruits arriving tomorrow they'll be combat effective immediately"

"What about that new kit?"

"Doc says two to three days before prototypes are ready another day after that before mass production can begin"

"Tell her to make it a priority, I want them in the field by the day after tomorrow"

"Yes ma'am" The Colonel sighed.

"I'm not to be disturbed unless an emergency occurs, understood?"

Bradford nodded "Yes Ma'am" Fairchild turned and strode out of the room, only to run right into Simo. The collision almost sent Fairchild on a trip to the floor, the only thing that stopped her was the tall Finnish man's firm grip has he caught her by her shoulders.

"Woah there Colonel, you alright? You look like your about to drop dead" Fairchild hadn't spoken to the young sniper much and it took her a moment to work out what he said because of his accent.

"Yes I'm just tired is all" She murmured her response. Simo shrugged and began to lead her towards the barracks, easily steering her by the shoulders. After several moments of walking and more than a few odd looks from other personnel Simo had her standing in front of her room.

"Night Ma'am" The Finn grinned and strode away, leaving the Colonel wondering how he got her all the way without her realising they were even moving. _Must be more tired than I thought _She thought has she stepped into the small room and went straight to the single bed in the far corner of the room.

Volker sighed as he stepped out of Delta teams designated locker room. He had just spent the last hour cleaning out the lockers of his fallen teammates and right now he needed a drink more than anything else. He smiled as Maxim stepped out of the mess hall and waved him over "Hey Captain cmon have a drink with us" The Belgian was grinning widely, a open bottle of whiskey in his hands.

Volker smiled "Hell yes that's exactly what I need right now" Has he stepped into the mess hall Maxim put his arm around Volkers shoulder.

"Don't worry Cap I got the cure for what ails you"

"I don't think a strong enough drink exists, Maxim" Volker spoke as he took a seat between Yuki and Nikolai. The Japanese operative was sitting quietly sipping at a can of beer while the Russian was having a drinking contest with Javik, an Argentinian that had only just transferred to the Central Branch. Nikolai was easily winning. Volker smiled as Maxim sat opposite him and poured him sizeable glass of whiskey. He drunk half of it in one gulp. In two the glass was empty and Maxim was pouring him another while laughing at the well and truly wasted Javik. Volker downed the next glass just has fast as the last. By the end of the first hour Javik was out cold and had been replaced by Deglan, the Brit trying in vain to drink Nikolai under the table. Maxim was laughing at the scene, having had just enough alcohol to find almost everything funny. Volker looked away from the trio as he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Yuki the small Japanese sniper smiled at him and gestured for him to follow her. He quietly rose from his seat and followed her around Javik's unconscious form. She led him to the barracks and gestured to her room.

"With Adriana gone now I've got my room to myself for the night, care to join me?" She asked in s soft voice. Volker just grinned and wrapped his arms around the small woman, bundling her into the room. _Finally something good _Volker thought as he fumbled with both the light switch and his belt simultaneously.

Colonel Fairchild awoke with a start at the sound of her alarm. Has she rolled over to shut the clock off she froze. It hadn't been set. Which meant that the alarm was the bases alert. She immediately leapt out of bed and began racing to Mission Control. Bradford looked up as she sprinted into the room. "Whats the situation?"

"Three alerts, two are UFO's, one over America and another over France. The final one is abductions in Poland. I took the liberty of deploying our intercepters." Bradford nodded to the screen which displayed their interceptors pursuing the UFO's.

"What about the abductions?"

"Waiting on your order" She nodded. All ground deployment orders had to come directly from her, or the commander of the local branch headquarters.

"Mobilise Aegis team to deal with the abductions, get Echo on the pad to deal with the UFO in France and have the North American Branch mobilise against the other UFO"

"Yes Ma'am" Bradford saluted and went to work organising the deployment.


	8. Operation Stone Sand

**A/N: **Here's another chapter. Read and review please. Thanks to those who have reviewed and sorry for any mistakes I'm still only getting the hang of all this.

**Disclaimer: **Yeah still not mine.

Captain Isaiah Washington stepped slowly down the street. The rest of Aegis team were arrayed in the street in front of him. The American officer kept his eyes open checking each rooftop and alleyway in the small town. He froze as the teams point-man, Kurtz Weber, raised his hand. A moment after he gave the stop signal plasma bolts began flying down the street towards them. Kurtz shouted "Take cover!" a second before the rounds tore into his chest. He fell with a scream of pain. Isaiah dove to the side, taking cover in an alleyway alongside Maria, while Richard and Andre took cover in an alley on the other side of the street. However the teams medic, an Australian named Kale, raced into the middle of the street and dragged the critically injured Kurtz into cover behind a van. Isaiah cursed.

"How many are there?" He called out as the enemy fire intensified.

"Four Mutons in the street, six Sectoids in the diner!" Kale shouted back as he began to treat Kurtz.

"Alright Maria, Andre use the alley's and flank these bastards" He ordered before leaning out of cover and sending a burst of gunfire at the aliens. With a nod Maria was gone taking off down the alley, cradling her shotgun. Andre left a moment later, pausing to unjam his LMG.

Maria froze as she spotted a pair of small shadows around the corner. She hesitated before she turned around the corner and sighted on the first opponent. Her brain hadn't even registered that she was targeting a Sectoid until after the first one was dead and she had rammed her shotgun into the face of the second. A pull of the trigger later and the small alien was dead. She breathed a sigh of relief before activating her radio "Two Sectoids down sir, continuing to flank hostiles" The Spanish women reported before moving onto flank the aliens.

Isaiah cursed again as he heard Richard's cry of pain. The British operative fell back into the alley clutching the side of his face as plasma splashed onto him. The shot had missed but the plasma splashed onto his face and disabled the soldier nonetheless.

"This is Andre I'm in position" The French heavy weapons operative's voice came in over the radio.

"Go, take them out!" Isaiah shouted. The three operatives struck as one. Maria threw two of her High Explosive grenades at the Mutons. The dual detonations blowing two of them into oblivion. The remaining two were left injured and dazed and were easy prey for Isaiah and Maria to take down. Andre meanwhile broke down the door into the diner and struck the group of Sectoids from behind. His LMG made short work of the exposed aliens and before they could even turn to face their attacker Andre had filled them with holes. Only after Andre and Maria had given the all clear did Isaiah order them to rally around Kale and Kurtz.

"Can you move him Kale?" He asked as he approached the Australian. Kale sighed and stood up, looking down at Kurtz's heavily bandaged form.

"Yeah for now, but if he doesn't get help soon…" Kale trailed off at the end of his sentence, reluctant to even say the words.

"Alright we'll call it in" Isaiah paused before he activated his radio and contacted Central. "Central this is Aegis 1, we have two injured, one critical. Are we clear to return?"

"Uh thats a negative Aegis 1 we are still reading Alien activity in the area. Medevac on route" Bradford informed the Captain.

"Yes Sir. Do we have a location on these hostiles"

"Gas Station three blocks down the road. ETA on medevac ten minutes Captain. Good luck, Central out" And with that Bradford cut the link.

"Damn it. Kale you stay here with Kurtz and Richard while Maria, Andre and myself go to finish this" Kale nodded but Richard immediately began to protest.

"The worst of it's over sir I can fight just fine" Isaiah looked at Kale who shook his head.

"If you wanna see out of that eye again then you need a real doctor fast" Kale spoke firmly leaving no room for disagreement.

"Next time Richard, this time we'll handle it" With that said the three operatives headed out towards the gas station. It was a short walk before they found themselves crouching behind a bus, nervously counting the aliens.

"Six Mutons, twelve Sectoids and six Thin Men. We are officially screwed" Andre muttered darkly.

"Shut up and let the Captain think" Maria hissed at the Frenchmen.

"Alright Maria you flank them through the alley, me and Andre will keep there attention this way. If push comes to shove we blow it all up with Andre's rocket launcher" Isaiah spoke quickly and moved even faster, ushering Maria away before darting to the other side of the road. He waited one minute before nodding to Andre and together they opened fire. Two Mutons and three Sectoids existence were ended before the aliens could react. When they did though it was fearsome. Isaiah could hardly get off a shot before being forced back into cover. Isaiah snarled as Andre fell with a scream that was cut short.

"Maria where are you!?" Isaiah shouted into the radio as a plasma bolt passed inches above his head.

Maria froze as she moved through the alley. Standing before her were three Sectoids. She fired her shotgun twice nailing one dead centre with the first shot while her second shot winged another. Their response left her lying sprawled on her back most of the right side of her torso a burned mess. "Captain this is Maria, heavy enemy resistance, I can't make it sir" She paused before continuing "Sorry Sir" Maria activated her last grenade with a smile and in an instant both of her killers were destroyed along with her.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Isaiah cursed after hearing Maria's last transmission. He couldn't take them all down alone. Then it hit him. Andre's rocket launcher. If he could hit the fuel bowsers it would destroy the gas station and likely finish off the last of the aliens. He got up and ran for it. Andre had been behind the bus on the other side of the road when he died, the launcher would be with him. He stumbled as a plasma road hit his side. It was the single most painful moment in his life, and this was a man who had been shot beaten and stabbed before. A second round collided with him, hitting his shoulder this time. He fell when a third round hit his leg only to force himself to his feet and lunge the last metre to the bus. He lay there for a second before he scrabbled for Andre's launcher, disconnecting it from it's sling so he could manoeuvre properly. He leaned out of cover and took a moment to aim. He fired, the recoil knocking the weakened man down. A split second later and then everything was fire and noise. After it had calmed down somewhat he forced himself into a sitting position.

"Central this is Aegis 1, all hostiles eliminated" He didn't even hear Centrals response before he passed out.


	9. Operation Flaming Snow

**A/N:**Sorry about the lack of updates as of late, family mattars called me overseas for some time and along with a multitude of computer troubles it's been difficult to find any time to type. I'm also sorry for the rather poor quality of this chapter, after so long without being able to write anything I've been left having trouble trying to get back into the swing of things. Additionally I've taken down the chapter Operation: Dark Blitz because with the recent revisions to the story the chapter just doesn't seem to fit anymore. Hopefully I'll be able to start typing more and get some more chapters up, so as always read, review and enjoy.

The forest was alive with strobes of green light and the sound of gunfire. Caleb was dead already; Kamarov knew that for sure, he had seen the young Canadian go down in the opening exchange. He wasn't sure about the others although the steading thumping sound of Javik's LMG firing assured him of the Argentineans continued good health. He traced the trajectory of one of the plasma bolts and sent a burst into the bushes and was rewarded with a screech of pain as his rounds hit home. A second after the screech a small grey-skinned body fell into view. He shifted aim again and sent a second Sectoid spilling to the ground dead. Before he could pick out his third target a pair of Mutons barrelled into the fire fight. Before the large green-skinned aliens could open fire however, the team's sniper Simo decided to reveal himself, and one of the aliens fell most of its brains spraying out of the bullet shaped hole in the back of its head. The second one roared and fired into the bushes to Kamarov's right and Javik's LMG fell silent. Kamarov, Nikolai and Deglan all fired on the Muton as one and the creature fell, almost a dozen rounds planted into its head and torso.

Kamarov ducked suddenly, acting on instinct, and the tree beside him exploded as a trio of plasma rounds struck it where his head had been moments ago. He twisted left and saw a third Muton. '_Smart bastard, trying to flank me while its buddies rushed in and kept us busy__'_Kamarov thought with a small amount of grudging respect. As valid a strategy it was however Kamarov reacted faster than most would be able to think and brought his rifle up and around, putting three rounds into the aliens roaring face. It teetered for a moment before pitching forward, dead. Simo's rifle boomed one last time and signalled the end of the battle.

"All units sound off" Kamarov ordered into his radio as he loaded his last full clip into his rifle.

"Echo Two, I'm good to go" Nikolai responded first, Kamarov's friend and fellow Russian moved forward slowly checking that the aliens were all indeed dead.

"Three here, I'm good" Simo spoke without emotion, the Finn had always been that way, cheery when at base but the second they stepped onto the field he was all business. Kamarov appreciated that.

"Echo Four, I'm alive, I think" Deglan spoke nervously, the Brit had seen very little combat before today only the occasional, minor firefight.

Once all of his team had reported in Kamarov moved to check Caleb's body, "Echo Two, grab Six's tags and lets move out" He spent a second gathering Caleb's tags and the two extra clips left on the Canadians belt.

"Move on to the objective, Echo Four you have point, Three you're on rearguard, let's move Echo that crash isn't going to clear itself" The strike team responded instantly, moving further into the woods.

The squad soon came across the downed UFO. The alien craft had crashed heavily, this much was clear from the long trail of torn up ground and debris that trailed off to the teams left. Kamarov began issuing orders immediately. "Three dig in out here; anything comes into your line of fire it dies, understood?"

"With pleasure Captain" The statement sounded strange coming from the emotionless sniper but Kamarov simply waved him off to find whatever position he chose.

"Two, Four with me, let's go see who's home shall we?" Kamarov grinned as he said this and was immediately greeted with two affirmative responses. The three operatives moved together, approaching the shimmering doorway on the side of the UFO. Using hand signals only Kamarov told Deglan to take point and storm forward, while he and Nikolai would cover him. Both operatives nodded and got into position. Kamarov took a deep, steadying breath before he tapped the shimmering portal. In an instant the doorway was empty. Deglan was rushing through it the next while Kamarov and Nikolai moved to cover him both sweeping in around the door frame.

They were in a short hallway that ended in a T-intersection. That was all Kamarov could make out before a flash of green, from a near miss, left his vision blurred. Kamarov fell back into cover as Nikolai, realising his current predicament shoved him back behind the door frame. He heard somebody fire and then heard Deglan's pained screams drowned out the gunfire. Finally his vision returned to normal and he swept back into the hallway.

Two Sectoids were in cover at the other end of the hallway, likely the last of the UFO's crew. Deglan lay sprawled in the middle of the hall, severe burns covering most of his body. Remarkably the Brit was still alive, writhing and howling in pain but alive. The two Sectoids put a swift end to that. Despite Deglan's unfortunate end, it did provide Kamarov and Nikolai the chance they needed to gun down the pair of Sectoids as they left cover to fire on the wounded Brit. Kamarov cursed and signalled Nikolai forward. The larger Russian nodded and advanced down the corridor, pausing only to retrieve Deglan's tags. After a moment Kamarov followed. Once at the intersection, Kamarov gestured to the right, past experiences boarding these crafts told Kamarov that they were just outside the control room, the small craft really only had enough room for one cargo bay to the rear and the control room to the fore. They had entered from the crafts right-hand side so that meant that the control room would be to the right.

Sure enough within moments the duo was just outside what Kamarov believed to be the control room. "The Doctor wants an Outsider for a new friend, so let's oblige her shall we?" Kamarov's voice positively oozed displeasure. Nikolai grinned, he knew all about his friend's hatred of X-Coms head scientist, Doctor Vahlen. With a gesture the duo took up position on both sides of the door, both of them drawing an Arc Thrower, the Doctors alien taser. They moved as one charging through the door. In response the Outsider began to form around its crystal. Nikolai fired first and missed as the Alien ducked to the right, spraying rounds from its plasma rifle. Kamarov fired his Arc Thrower and watched as the Outsider disintegrated, the orange particles going back into its crystal. He grinned and turned to Nikolai, a comment on how easy it had been dying on his lips as he saw his friend lying still in a growing pool of blood.

"FUCK!" Kamarov shouted as he raced to his friends side "Nikolai you big bastard, get up" He practically pleaded with him.

Nikolai gargled slightly before he withdrew something from his pocket. "Here, take this, give it to Helga" Nikolai forced the words out, struggling just to move his mouth to form the shape of the words let alone put any volume into his voice.

"Fuck no, this isn't right, you don't get to die here you lazy bastard, now come on and quit bleeding everywhere, you can give it her yourself" Kamarov tried in vain to stop the bleeding.

"Just promise me" Nikolai forced the small object into his friend's hand.

"Fine whatever, just focus on not dying alright?" Even as Kamarov said this he knew it was too late, the light had already faded from Nikolai's eyes. Kamarov grew still and sat there stunned. He and Nikolai had been friends for as long as he could remember, dating right back to their time as street urchins in Moscow all the way through their time in the Russian army right up until they had left the Spetsnaz to join X-Com. So he sat there, his hands covered in his friend's blood and that was exactly as he was found twenty minutes later when Simo came to investigate why he wasn't responding to his repeated requests for a sitrep.


	10. Interlude 4: Loss and Sacrifice

_**A/N:**___**Well after being called overseas by unavoidable family matters and then a string of tragic computer problems I have finally finished another chapter. This one was probably the hardest one I've done yet and probably not my best after going so long without writing anything, so please forgive any mistakes. Read and please Review, I'm posting this to try and improve my writing and constructive criticism is always welcome, so long as it makes suggestions about what needs work, not just telling me I did bad, not that I've actually gotten any reviews like that but still my point stands. Read and Enjoy folks, I'll try to start posting more again. **

Simo sighed as he gave his report to the Colonel. Normally this would be done by the team leader, Kamarov, but he had silently tromped off to the armoury. Nikolai's death had hit the captain hard, harder than any of the other dozens of loses Echo team had taken in the time since Simo had joined the team. Nobody even knew Kamarov's history with Nikolai, only that they had served together in the Russian special forces, and even then the duo had never spoken of it and now that Nikolai was gone Kamarov was more than a little affected, that left Simo playing gate keeper between him and anyone who might set him off. Simo had seen what happened when a distressed commando was pushed over the edge back in his time in the Special Jaeger Battalion back in Finland. It rarely ended well.

"Sergeant, where is Captain Kamarov?" Simo jumped slightly as Doctor Vahlen seemed to materialise out of thin air to his left.

"He errr, went ahead to the armoury to change out of his combat kit, I think it would be best if you didn't see him at this moment Doctor" He muttered nervously, in all honesty Simo could do little to stop either the Doctor or the Colonel from going to see the distraught Russian, both significantly outranked him. The Colonel just nodded and, with a few short parting words she was gone. That alone told Simo that she was starting to feel the pressure from the situation in China. The Doctor however just stared at him a moment before she headed towards the armoury door. "Ah please wait Doctor, I don't think you should-"

"Sergeant! I assure you I am not going in there looking for a fight, I just want to speak with the Captain for a second, so please, just go stand over there or something" She finished with a dismissive gesture towards the nearest corner in the hall. Simo sighed. With a muttered response of 'I hope this won't turn out to be an I told you so moment' He turned and left. Vahlen sighed and turned back to the armoury, quietly slipping in through the unlocked door. She flicked the lock once she was inside just to make sure Simo didn't change his mind and try to forcibly remove her. A quick inspection of the room revealed Kamarov slumped on a bench on the far side of the room and several particularly large dents on the lockers lining the walls of the room.

"Captain, I wanted to speak to you" Vahlen spoke softly. Kamarov didn't react, just continued to stare silently at the ground between his boots. Vahlen approached him slowly, when still didn't react to her presence she took a seat beside him on the bench. "Captain, it wasn't your fault"

"DON'T FEED ME THAT BULLSHIT!" He shouted sharply glaring at the scientist. "It was my team, my orders and my call, if anything this is _completely _my fault and no one else's!" He snarled and threw his helmet across the room.

"Yeah, okay then, even if it is your fault, which it wasn't, you've lost soldiers before and it never bothered you this much, granted you were closer with Nikolai then anyone else but still this is a bit much" The commando just grunted and looked away.

"It's not guilt, well there is that but Nikolai has a sister, Helga, she lives in Moscow, me and Nik signed up to pay for her university fee's, her living expenses and all that while she studied medicine, and now because of me her only brother, and the last of her family, is dead and I can't even tell her because of the gag order" Vahlen just stared at the commando, him and Nikolai had always seemed the least likely to do something so selfless like that, at least in her mind.

"I didn't know, um wow" For the first time in her life Vahlen was speechless.

"Yeah, we were orphans, the three of us, my parents died in a car accident when I was two I think, I can't remember, don't really want too. Nikolai and Helga came to the orphanage when I was four or so, a fire had burned their house down, with their parents in it. One thing led to another and the three of us became the family, their was another boy Benedikt but he passed away when we first got into the Spetsnaz. Before he passed Nikolai asked me to give this to Helga" Kamarov held up a small battered locket, from it's aged appearance it was clear that it had belonged to one of Nikolai's parents.

"So give it to her, the gag order only applies to the aliens, you can send her a letter or call her, just don't mention the X-Rays or any of the classified info, alright" Vahlen smiled and rose, moving to leave the room. She froze at the door and added "Besides Helga isn't alone, your still here aren't you?" Then she was gone leaving the Russian to his thoughts.

Once she closed the door she heard someone give a soft laugh. "Well that was unexpected" She jumped at the sound of the Colonels voice.

"Ma'am what are you doing here?" She asked stunned, after the Colonel left she had assumed she didn't want anything to do with the situation.

"Making sure everything turned out for the best, you two have been fighting like cats and dogs since day one, you had to burry the hatchet at some point, I figured this was the best time to get you to do so" Fairchild smirked at the expression on the Doctors face.

"But you didn't DO anything"

"Didn't I doc, when you do things just right no one will know you did anything at all" Fairchild gave a cryptic smirk and strode off in the direction of the Control Room. Vahlen just stared for a few minutes before she set off towards the labs muttering in German about cryptic officers and weird Brits.

Colonel Fairchild struggled to tear the smirk off her face as she strode into the Control Room. Bradford looked up from his screen as she walked in, "Ma'am, your wanted on the secure com"

"I'm going to go ahead and assume it's The Man" Bradford nodded to her as she strode past him towards the Com Room. The room immediately darkened has she entered it and the large screen on the wall opposite the door came alive, once again revealing the Council's mysterious spokesman.

"Colonel we have received a report from some of our field agents about a target of opportunity we would like you to deal with" He spoke quickly, not even giving Fairchild a chance to speak "We have identified an Alien sympathiser amongst the Israeli government, this man must be brought to us so that we might ascertain what he knows, how he knows about the situation and what he as told the Greys about us. Silencing him however takes priority over all else so kindly ensure that he is stopped"

"This sounds like something that your 'agents' should be handling instead of us"

"Our agents are in the process of trying however the Target is being protected by several X-Rays, or at least men armed with plasma weaponry. The Council team, Cerberus team, has the target pined in an alley but they can't get to him. The difference in tech is too much for our operatives to handle, yours however…."

"Are better equipped to handle plasma based weapons, if only slightly" She sighed and turned from the screen. "I'll get a team there immediately"

"Good, I'll send the coordinates to your Intelligence officer immediately" The screen went black behind her as she strode out of the room.

"Bradford! Get Delta on the pad, they have a job to do" Fairchild shouted as she strode back into the Control Room. _Give us a break you Grey bastards _She thought bitterly.


	11. Operation Disgraced King

_**A/N****: Here's chapter 11 folks, have fun. I don't own X-Com and all that junk. Kindly Read and Review.**_

The sounds of gunfire guided the X-Com team straight towards their target. The Council strike team was certainly making the Greys earn it, that was for sure. Volker carefully directed his team through the streets of Jerusalem, the Israeli capital was practically deserted, all the civilians had already fled the area and the Council had pulled some strings to keep the local forces from involving themselves. That meant anyone who wasn't with the Council was with the Greys and were fair game.

To say this mission made Volker nervous was an understatement, he had only just met his new team members the other day therefore he had no idea what their abilities were or how well they would hold up in combat, and then there was the Council team, they were an unknown, would they need protecting or could they be a valid asset to the mission. Add in the unknown number of hostiles and the orders for a live capture to be attempted, and he was left a little out of his depth. His teams new scout, a young Croatian lad named Anton, signalled for a stop and gestured Volker forward.

"Report" Volker whispered quickly.

"Firefights on the other side of these buildings sir, if we head north and south we can trap them in a crossfire and take most of them out, especially with the support of the Council team" Volker paused pondering this information.

"Are you sure? It sounds like the fighting is further north than this" It really did sound like that to Volker, but then again in these winding streets he was having trouble identifying where sounds were coming from, it was almost like being in a tunnel, and Volker had little experience in this kind of urban warfare.

The Croatian shook his head "Yes sir, definitely just past these buildings sir, trust me I have experience in this kind of conflict"

Volker nodded and gave the order. Yuki and Rafael, the teams new heavy, would regroup with the Council team and ensure that the greys remained trapped in the alley. Anton and Maxim would head south and cut off the greys escape. Meanwhile Volker and the last rookie Adela would head north and head off any chance of the targets escape from that way. The team split up and immediately set out.

Yuki silently slipped up through the empty building, and immediately set out for the stairs leading up to the roof, where the remaining members of the Council team were still firing from. As she slipped in one of the council operatives spotted her and waved her over "Bout time back up got here, how many of you are there?"

"Six, two more north and two more south" She spoke quietly as she took up position alongside the remaining three council soldiers, while Rafael took up position downstairs. Yuki cursed when she saw how many Thin Men were down below. Easily a dozen of them were down there firing up at the group of commandos.

"Captain, 13 hostiles confirmed, plus target, engaging" She waited till Volker acknowledged her brief report before she started firing. Her first shot blew most of a Thin Man's torso apart. Her second missed and sent the remainder scattering into cover. Before they could make it however Rafael opened fire, catching three of the alien infiltrators before they could make it to cover, only two however were successfully killed, the third limped the rest of the way to cover. The aliens return fire was sporadic at best as they attempted to get to better positions, against the heavier X-Com weaponry their current cover behind a mixture of wooden pallets and dumpsters was proving inadequate.

The soldier next to Yuki jerked and dropped without a word when a lucky shot caught him in the face. Even with the height advantage the aliens weren't going to make it easy for them to win. Yuki shifted and lined up her sights for another shot, before she could take it however, the windowsill she was leaning against exploded from a burst of concentrated plasma fire, she screamed as she felt a sharp pain in her right side and then before she could brace herself she was falling, forward outside the building into the alley. The ground raced up to meet her and she hit it hard, losing consciousness on impact.

Anton cursed as he entered the alley. Yuki lay in the open unmoving. The aliens were dug in around the target, who was hiding behind a large dumpster in the middle of the alley. Anton lined up his sights and opened fire, catching two of the Thin Men in their exposed flanks, the first, already injured went down immediately, the second followed after a second and then Maxim added his fire and sent a third to the afterlife.

"Maxim, cover me, I'll grab Yuki" The Belgian nodded and opened fire on the aliens, not particularly aiming to score any kills, just to keep their heads down. Anton moved out into the open ground ignoring the plasma and bullets flying across the alley. He dropped down to his knees as he reached Yuki and began to assess the damage. The sniper was alive but unconscious. The plasma had caught her on the right side of her torso, he could see the severe burns spreading across the exposed flesh and continuing under what little remained of her chest plate. Wrapping one arm around the woman he began dragging her backwards, towards the building she head fallen from. He heard Rafael cry out and the almost constant stream of cover fire from his LMG ceased.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit" Anton repeated the curse over and over again praying that none of the sizzling bolts of green death would hit him. His prayers were answered and soon he was setting the injured sniper down inside the two story building. Once inside he proper her up against the wall and moved to check Rafael. The Heavy was dead. A plasma round had hit him in the throat and literally decapitated the British commando. Anton cursed and moved to the doorway, peering out at the Thin Men, and their target. Volker and Adele had joined the fight and sent a further three aliens to their end. The remaining four aliens found themselves in a precarious position, under attack from three sides, there was little they could do to protect themselves without exposing themselves to at least one of the operatives.

Volker fought to keep calm. He had spotted Anton dragging Yuki into the building has he and Adele had entered the alley. Volker was fond of the Japanese sniper, not the friendly fond, the 'I would date exclusively' fond and now she was either dead or badly injured. He leaned out of cover and quickly counted the remaining aliens. Four, that was all that was left of over a dozen. He put a burst into another one of the aliens. It screeched and fell. Plasma sliced through the air towards him and Adele. He cursed and dropped back into cover behind the stack of wooden pallets, for all the good it did him. He could hear a soft hissing as the plasma hit the far side of the pallets and splattered, some of it making it through to his armoured shoulders. He swept upward firing over the stack at the X-rays. A second fell. The remaining two turned and fired at him simultaneously. The earlier plasma impacting against the pallet had already left it weakened and the first few shots finished the frail wood off, shattering the stack. The other rounds continued right through to Volker. He screamed as the first shot hit his right thigh. The second caught his left shoulder. The final came at him in a flash of green, and then the right side of his face exploded in pain. Volker watched as the ground rushed up to meet him. He blacked out before he even hit the pavement.

"Shit, shit, shit" Adele cursed as she watched Volker go down. She leaned out of cover and fired, six rounds into one of the Thin Men. It went flying backwards, into the wall of the building behind it. The remaining one jumped upwards, attempting to escapee only to fail when one of the council operatives opened up on it. It fell back into the alley with a screech, spasming once before going still. The second it stopped moving Adele ran to Volker's side. She immediately went to work, slipping her satchel of medical gear open. His injuries were bad but not unrecoverable. Fatal if left untreated though.

"Adele! Yuki's hit, I need you over here!" Anton called out from inside the building.

"The Captain took some hits too, just give me a minute!" Adele snapped at the scout.

"Damn it!" Adele ignored him and continued her work until she was satisfied Volker's life wasn't in danger, at which point she turned and raced into the building to work on Yuki. She was careful to avoid looking at Raphael's remains. The two of them had been playing pool just four hours ago. She hesitated as she assessed Yuki's injuries, the sniper had severe burns across most of her torso, originating from a jagged, blackened hole in her chest. She sighed and went to work.

Anton stepped back, giving Adele the room she needed to work and turned to survey the alley, only to be interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. He turned to face the pair of council operatives.

"Did any of you think to grab the target?" The leader asked as she strode past him, heading towards the alley.

"Fuck!" Anton shouted.

"Relax, I got him" Maxim grinned as he strode forward, practically dragging the struggling politician by the collar of his suit. He threw the man down at the feet of the two council operatives.

"Thanks for the help, we'll handle it from here" The leader roughly hauled the struggling man to his feet and began to drag him away. Maxim just looked at Anton and shrugged.

"So what'd I miss?" He asked, giving Anton a toothy grin. The Croatian snorted back some laughter and moved to grab Volker.


	12. Interlude 5: Tempers and Discussions

**A/N: Well this one took awhile to do, sorry about that folks. So read, enjoy and kindly leave a review.**

**PS I don't own anything, at all.**

Colonel Fairchild was not a happy woman right now. Delta Teams return had hit all of X-Coms personnel hard. Captain Hans Volker, one of X-Coms original members, back when it was just a single strike team operating in Europe alone, was in a coma and according to the doctors may never wake up.

Fairchild sighed in frustration as she weaved her way through the halls. This had gone on long enough. X-Com has lost dozens of operatives to the aliens superior weaponry, they _needed_ newer, better weapons and armour or they would run out of soldiers before they even made a dent in the aliens numbers. Doctor Vahlen had promised them better equipment, however she still had yet to deliver on that promise, now it was time to find out why.

The doors to the science lab hissed open as Fairchild approached. A pair of scientist standing near the door took one look at the Colonels expression, exchanged a look and then promptly fled the room. Fairchild ignored them and made a beeline through the empty lab, straight for Vahlen who was currently having a conversation with another scientist.

"Doctor, can we speak in private for a moment" It wasn't a question. The other scientist, Halsey looked from Vahlen to Fairchild before quietly excusing herself and left the room quickly.

"What is the matter, Colonel?" Vahlen spoke with a small amount of apprehension in her voice. Fairchild was by no means a large or menacing woman but she was a former SAS officer, which just leaves the question of how someone so harmless looking made it to that position. The personnel of X-Com learned quickly that whatever it was it wasn't pleasant and certainly involved extreme violence being visited upon someone.

"The matter is that you promised me laser weapons and advanced body armour, yet you haven't provided us with either. I would like an explanation" Fairchild's glare could melt steel.

Vahlen fidgeted under her commanders gaze. "We are doing the best we can Colonel, please understand we are working on a shoestring budget, with only a handle of personnel. We have almost finished the prototype Carapace Armour we are just working on the final touches"

"So you say but well you take your time our troops are fighting with sub-par equipment. People are dying Doctor" Vahlen's eyes widened.

"How dare you blame _me for that!_ It is hardly my fault that the aliens are attacking, that our people are dying trying to fight them off! I have been doing the best that I can! The advancements that we have made are miraculous compared to what we have a species have achieved in the last thirty years!"

"Doctor, all of that means nothing unless we stop the aliens here and now, which is something we can't do without better weaponry and armour, now how much longer will it take you to give me those laser weapons and carapace armour?"

"You'll have it by the end of the week Colonel" Vahlen ignored the stinging in her eyes.

"See that you do, or we'll have to find someone who can do it instead" And with that Fairchild strode out of the room. Vahlen left a moment later heading towards her quarters.

**-POV Change-**

Simo was playing poker in the rec room with two the two new Delta team members, Anton and Adele when he saw Fairchild storm past the open rec room door.

"Shit, Colonel looks pissed"

"The entire time I've been here the Colonel as looked pissed" Anton responded from the other end of the table. Simo sighed again before set down his hand and stood up.

"I'm going to go find out whats up"

"What? Now? Shit just when I get a winning hand" Simo smiled as he heard Anton speak from behind him.

"No you weren't" Adele's voice reached him just as he entered the corridor, followed by a string of curse words from Anton as Adele revealed her hand. Simo laughed at the Croatians exclamation.

"Colonel! Wait up!" Simo called after Fairchild, jogging to catch up to the angry woman.

"What is it Simo?" Fairchild ground out.

"What's wrong?" Fairchild looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What isn't wrong right now? Aliens, dozens of soldiers dead, dozens of_** my soldiers dead, **_and we are no closer to winning this war"

"Colonel, before this how many soldiers had you lost in combat?"

"I… none" Her voice was small, almost childlike in her response. "This is my first command"

"Shit. I didn't realise" Simo lightly gripped her shoulders "Colonel, if this is your first command than I can safely say you are undoubtedly the best choice for this job" Fairchild looked up at him, confusion in her eyes.

"What?"

"Colonel you have quite possibly made nothing but the finest choices available. The only losses we have taken have been unavoidable, we are fighting against a superior foe, who can attack anywhere at anytime. The men we've lost so far all knew what they were getting into, and everybody here knows that few if any of us will survive. No one is at fault for our deaths, aside from the X-Rays of course"

They stood there in silence for a few moments before Fairchild spoke again.

"I guess I should apologise to Vahlen then huh? I uh kinda blamed her for it all"

"Maybe later when both of you are a little calmer" Simo smiled "Now I do believe I was being scammed by Adele, care to join me?"

"Yeah I guess I could stand to lose some of my pay check" Fairchild smiled and followed Simo back to the rec room.

**-POV Change-**

Kamarov hesitated before knocking on Vahlen's room door. Halsey, Vahlen's second in command within the science division, had come and found Kamarov, specifically to ask him to go talk to the doctor. Why Kamarov had no idea.

"Who is it?" Vahlen's voice came from within.

"Kamarov, can I come in?"

"Uh sure" Kamarov sighed and then stepped inside. Vahlen's room was spartan to say the least, but then again so was everybody else's rooms.

"So, Halsey tells me you and the Colonel had an argument"

"Not very discreet are you? It wasn't much of an argument, more of her telling me off and blaming me for everybody we've lost"

"I'm Russian, we get shit done and I was using the word loosely. You know she didn't mean it right?" Vahlen looked at him sharply.

"What do mean 'didn't mean it'?"

"She's an officer, one that has been sending her soldier to almost certain death for awhile now, each loss is going to weigh pretty heavily on her"

"I didn't even think of that"

"Mm Often only other officers understand immediately. There's a reason why we receive special training you know"

"Why doesn't she just say so then?"

"Being an officer is complicated, she can't show weakness or doubt if we're to keep faith in her. Just as it's her job to lead us unfalteringly we have to follow her without doubt, but if one of us fails everything goes to hell and we lose the war"

"I see…" She looked at the wall deep in thought.

"Don't worry most non-military folks have trouble with this kind of stuff"

"Thanks Kamarov, I feel better about this now"

"Yes well, I told you, I'm Russian we get shit done and we get it done fast" Kamarov nodded, stood and left. Vahlen smiled as the door shut behind the Russian officer.


End file.
